DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN NOBLES AND KINGS IN THE LANNA KINGDOM, 14th-16th CENTURIES

Abstract

This research examines the dynamic relationship between nobles and kings in the Lanna Kingdom from the mid-fourteenth to the early sixteenth century. Previous studies often characterized each social class as a static, ahistorical, and generalized entity, thereby neglecting the power dynamics inherent in each historical period of Lanna. Furthermore, previous research's explanations of Lanna's "golden age" and "period of decline" tend to overlook a long-term process of socio-economic and cultural change that unfolded gradually over a century. Employing process sociology, this study analyzes how nobles and royals, who constituted the state's relationship network, accumulated and utilized resources to negotiate power, drawing upon primary sources such as chronicles, poems, laws, and 101 inscriptions. From the late fourteenth century onward, the Mangrai dynasty's royal authority progressively declined as the nobility concurrently accumulated political and economic influence. Nobles became pivotal in the selection and deposition of kings, and in leading military campaigns against both internal and external adversaries, particularly the Ayutthayans, with whom they engaged in conflict for over 150 years. The accumulated resource donations of the noble class progressively approached parity with those of the kings. By the early sixteenth century, King Kaeo, indebted to the nobility for his ascension, attempted to rein in their growing insubordinate power through ceremonial means. Nevertheless, in the aftermath of his rule, the nobility further undermined the monarchy by consistently appointing pliant kings, ensuring the crown's inability to monopolize political and fiscal powers over the long term.